Safety device for railway crossings



Aug 11,1925. 1,548,979

T, R. BUTCHART SAFETY navma FOR RAILWAY dRossINes .iled Sept. 16, 192

Patented Aug. 11, 1%25.

THOMAS R, BUTCLFIAR-T, OFMB-ED can, IOWA.

Application filed September 16, 1924. Serial No. 738,064.

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that I, THOMAS R. BU'roHAn'r, a citizen of the'UnitedStates, residing at Red Oak, in the county of Montgomery and State of Iowa,have invented certain'new and useful lmprovements in a Safety Device forRailway Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a safety device for railroad crossings and hasfor its principal Object to provide a means for preventing motorvehicles traveling at an excessive rate of speed upon a highway when thevehicle is about to approach a railway crossing. a

' One of the important objects of the present'inventionis to provide asafety device of the above mentioned character, wherein means is placedin the highway adjacent the opposite sides of therails for causingmotorists to drive cautiously upon approaching a railway"crossing, saidmeans further causing the operator'of a vehicle to have aafull view oftherails on both sides of the highway so that he may'readily ascertainwhether or not a train 'is approaching the'crossing.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a safety device ofthe aboveinentioned character, which may be readily and easily placed inposition in the highway adjacent the opposite sides of the rails forcausing a vehicle to travel in an irregular course whereby the speed ofthe vehicle will be retarded to such an extent as to enable the operatorof a vehicle to have full control of the same and prevent anypossibility of a collision with an approaching train which wouldordinarily result if the vehicle was traveling at an excessive rate ofspeed across the highway and the railway crossing.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification and in which likenumerals designate like parts throughout the same:

Figure 1 is a. top plan view of a railway crossing showing my improvedsafety device positioned in the highway.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of one of the sections.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section taken approximately on line 33 ofFigure 2, and

Figure 4 is a'transverse section taken on line it-At of Figure 2.

In the drawing wherein for the purpose of llustration is shownthepreferred embodiment of my invention," tlie numeral 1designatesgenerally a railway crossing, the rallsbeing illustrated at'2and the highway or road at Extending transverselyacross the highway orroad 8 on each side of the rails 2 and at a suitable distance therefromare the safety devices i and 5' respectively. Each of the safety devicescomprises a'pliirality of abutting sections designated by the numeral 6,the same being formed preferably of concrete. r

Each of the sections 6 has formed thereon intermediate the sloping ordiagonal parallel sides thereof, the obstruction'or hump 7. The ends ofeach hump are flattened as is illustrated at8 and when allof thesections in each ofthe'units' are in assembled'relation, the humps inone of the units will be disposed in one direction while thehumps of theadjacent unit will be'disposed in the opposite direction. This is more"clear- 1y illustrated in Figure 1, wherein the section and humps ofthe" "unit 4 are disposed so that a motorist must steer his automobile"diagonally of the roadway, in order-to avoid crossing thelnimp at thissection, and then in an opposite angular direct-ion across the roadway,to avoid cross ing the humps of the next adjacent section. He will thusbe forced to view the tracks on both sides of the roadway in successiveorder as he drives his automobile over the units and avoiding thehump-s.

The units which are arranged on each side of the rails are spaced asuitable distance from each other and it is obvious that when a vehicletraveling on the highway 3 on either side of the crossing l encountersthe safety devices, the vehicle will necessarily have to be operated ata low rate of speed and the wheels of the vehicle will travel over theupper surfaces of the abutting sections in such a manner as to cause thewheels to travel between the adjacent humps or ridges. As the vehiclepasses over the unit 5, the operator thereof will have a full vision ofthe rails on the left side of the road or highway 3 and after the unit 5has been passed, the unit 4 is encountered and as the sections and humpsthereon are disposed in the opposite direction to the sections and humpsof the unit 5, the vehicle will travel in the opposite direction andpermit the operator to have a full view of the rails on the right sideof the highway. This will be sutiicient to Warn the operator of thevehicle of the approaching of a railway crossing and thereby caution theoperator of the danger.

The safety device which includes the pairs of units on opposite sides ofthe rails will extend for substantially the full width of the highwaywhereby a vehicle must travel in a zigzag course before reaching therails and should a vehicle be traveling at an excessive rate of speedand encounter the humps of the sections comprising each of the units,the wheels will travel thereover in such a manner as to cause an upwardand downward movement of the vehicle yet preventing any injury to thetires or the body of the vehicle.

If desired, signs such as are shown at 9 are placed on the highway asuitable distance from the units 5 for initially warning the operator ofthe vehicle that a railway crossing is about to be approached.

A. railway crossing safety device of the above mentioned character, willat all times be positive and etlicient in carrying out the purposes forwhich the same is designated and will prevent numerous accidents causedby vehicles traveling at an excessive rate of speed over a railwaycrossing.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape and arrangement ofparts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of thenaeaeve invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. In combinationwith a railway crossing, of means in the highway spaced from the railsto cause a vehicle to follow a zigzag course before reaching the rails,said means including diagonally arranged humps e:-:- tendingtransversely across the highway.

2. In combination with a railway crossing, of means in the highwayspaced from the rails to cause a vehicle to follow a zigzag coursebefore reaching the rails, said means including diagonally arrangedhumps extending transversely across the highway, said humps beingarranged in parallel spaced relation with respect to each other torequire the wheels of the vehicle to pass therebetween and permit theoperator of the vehicle to have a full view of the rails.

33. In combination with a railway crossing, of a plurality of unitsextending transversely across the highway on each side of the rails andspaced therefrom, each of said units including a plurality of diagonallydisposed sections having humps thereon to require the vehicle to travelin a zigzag course before crossing the rails.

4;. In combination with a railway crossing, of means in the highwayspaced from the rails to cause a vehicle to follow a zigzag coursebefore reaching the rails, said means comprising diagonally arrangedabutting sections arranged transversely across the highway, and a humpextending longitudinally on the upper surface of each of said sections.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature.

THOMAS R. BUT CHART.

